The Host belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

I hope you guys enjoy this. I know it's short but i'll try to update quickly. Please review and let me know what you think. :)

Blurring The Lines

Chapter 1

The sun baked the desert air making it hard to breathe. I opened my eyes, only to have to squeeze them shut again. Even with my eyelids closed, I could still feel the sun stinging my eyes. I watched the red and orange dance on the backs of my eyelids. It was too hot out here.

"Ian," Kyle whispered, punching me in the arm. "Look!"

"Ow! What?" I asked, getting to a sitting position. We were on guard duty, positioned on a ridge overlooking the desert. I had been napping, seeing as not much else was going on out here. It was too hot, the parasites weren't stupid enough to be out here in this heat.

The only reason we were out here was because Brandt thought he saw something this morning. He probably saw some animal scavenging for food. The Seekers had no reason to come looking for us now. We hadn't been on a raid in weeks, and even that wouldn't have had them looking in the middle of the Arizona desert. We never raided towns close enough to draw their attention to this area.

"Look," he said, handing me the binoculars.

I lifted them to eyes and quickly scanned the desert before us. "I don't see anything. Maybe you should take a break, I think your seeing things," I laughed.

"Oh, really, then what's that!" He said.

I brought the binoculars back up to my eyes and looked in the direction he was pointing. There was nothing out there, just sand.

"Kyle, there's nothing..." I started to say, but then I saw something. It was blurry at first, but as I stared it became clear. It was a person, stumbling through the desert, miles away from our secret desert sanctuary.

The way they were dragging themselves along made it seem like they had been lost out there for days. I felt bad for them, at first, but then Kyle spoke again.

"Do you think it's a Seeker?" he asked, his voice full of fear and suspicion.

Was it a Seeker? Was it looking for us? Did they know where we were? Were there more out there... waiting to see if we would help it? Trying to trick us?

"I don't know. We have to go tell Jeb," I whispered, getting to my feet and heading back towards the cave.

Kyle followed me through the dark tunnels looking for the one person who would know what to do. He always seemed to know what to do.

We found Jeb in the kitchen. It was time for lunch and everyone was there. Kyle ran into the room and everyone, knowing we were on guard duty today, began to panic.

"Jeb, you should take a look at something," Kyle barked.

"What's going on?" he asked. Jeb never lost his cool, ever.

"There's someone out there," I said. Noticing the looks of worry sketched on everyone's faces, I quickly added, "There's only one and their not very close, but I think you should take a look."

"Is it a Seeker?" Jeb asked.

"Can't be sure, but it looks like they've been out there for awhile. The way its dragging itself along, looks like it's not doing so well," I answered.

"Is it a woman?" Jared asked. I hadn't noticed him sitting there beside Jeb. He seemed anxious. Of course he was anxious. His girlfriend, Melanie, had recently been taken. She knew about this place. Jeb was her uncle and he had given her the clues to find it. That's how Jared had gotten here, he followed the clues Melanie had showed him.

I knew exactly what he was thinking. What if she got away? What if she wasn't taken like he thought? What if that was her out there? But it wasn't. It couldn't be.

We had all heard the story, we all knew what happened to Melanie. It had been necessary for us to hear it when Jared had showed up with the boy, Jamie, and Jeb's sister, Magnolia, along with her daughter, Sharon. Melanie's body might be coming to look for us here and we needed to know. We had been on alert for a few months after they had shown up. A few of the others were still a little anxious, but most were beginning to feel comfortable again. But now someone was wandering the desert. If it was Melanie, it was only her body, and that meant a trap. The Seekers liked to play on our emotions that way, but we weren't stupid enough to fall for it.

"Can't tell. It's pretty far out," Kyle answered Jared's question.

"Alright, everyone get back to their lunch. Ian, Kyle and Jared, come with me," Jeb said. The group that had gathered around us now began to break up, but the worried murmurs continued.

We followed Jeb outside and then Kyle and I pointed out where we had seen the body. He stood there for sometime with the binoculars pressed against his eyes. He didn't say a word and neither did we, but Jared looked like he was about to explode. I didn't think he could take much more of this, but, luckily, Jeb turned back towards us.

"Alright, I'm gonna head out there when it gets dark. There doesn't seem to be anybody else out there, so there's no need to panic. You boys head back inside and get to work. Those crops won't grow themselves, now, will they?" Jeb said.

"Jeb, is it..." Jared started, but his voice cracked in pain causing him to trail off.

"Can't see 'em clearly, like Kyle said," Jeb answered, knowing who Jared was talking about. "Could be anyone."

Jared's face turned stiff, the way it did when he was trying to keep his feelings to himself. He had made that face a lot since coming here. He tried to keep everything inside, but I could see how much pain he was in.

"Did you all hear me or do I need to repeat myself?" Jeb said with an authoritative tone to his voice. He always wanted us to know who was in charge. I've got to admit that, in a world like this, with this many people living together, we needed someone to keep the order. And if anyone had to be in charge, I'm glad it was Jeb. He had never been anything but nice to everyone here, unless they deserved it. He was a fair man, and that was important in a leader, especially in this place.

"We're going, we're going," mumbled Kyle, pushing me back towards the caves. Jared hesitated for a second, but then followed us back inside.

You could feel the tension in the air. Everyone in the caves was worried about who the person in the desert was, or more likely what the parasite out in the desert wanted. Jeb started the trek outside by himself, he said it was better he go alone. He said too many people might scare it, if it was human. If it wasn't... then it was better only one person be killed.

Whoever it was, they were at least a few miles out. It would take Jeb hours to get there and back. Jared tried to watch through the binoculars, but it was too dark. He lost sight of Jeb quickly.

We were all impatient to know what was going on outside. No one in the caves, except for the children, slept that night. I don't think a single person here was able to breathe until Jared spotted Jeb walking back to the caves.